If you’ve been visiting Paris for a long time, you’ll recognize FUSAC for what it used to be – a classified-ad service for expats looking for housing. It published a weekly magazine, but if you needed a place to stay, the place to go was the bulletin board in the entrance of the American Church, overlooking the Seine on the Quai d’Orsay, just down the street from the Alma Bridge.

(Don’t confuse the American Church (interdenominational Protestant) with the American Cathedral (Episcopal). They aren’t far apart and they work together but they’re as different as, well, Episcopalians and Catholics.

The bulletin board still exists (or did the last time I looked, which has been a couple of years),

The FUSAC series on water

but it’s been supplanted by an effective web site and blog, which in recent years have become much more sophisticated and interesting. Witness the current series on the waters of Paris. Today I noticed #5 in the series, on the canals. I recommend it.

Until Napoleon, water was the big problem for the less-affluent citizens of Paris (which was the equivalent of our 99%). Later, canals were dug, locks were installed, and water flowed, to the point that it is no longer a concern.

To quote the current issue:

“The city of Paris is the proprietor of and responsible for a fluvial network of 130km of canals which cross 5 departments (Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne, Oise and Aisne) and two regions (Île-de-France et Picardie). There are three canals that interconnect: canal de l’Ourcq brings in water from the rivers Ourcq and Marne to feed the canals Saint Martin and Saint Denis.

“The construction of the Paris canal network was ordered by Napoleon I in 1802 as a way of providing fresh water to Paris which was out-growing its sources. It was also instrumental in transporting goods including food and building materials by boat, with two ports established at the Port de l’Arsenal and the Bassin de la Villette. This was the first time that the same waterway was to be used for navigation and drinking water. It took 23 years to complete the network of canals. Rest assured the canal water is no longer used for drinking water, but it is still makes up 60% of Paris’ unique secondary water network for street cleaning and gardening.”

Read the installment here, and scroll to the bottom for links to other installments.

(H/t to Dr. Mary Greenwood Johnson for correcting my error – I had the denomination of the two churches mixed up.)